


Corrupted (rewritten)

by orphan_account



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: corrupted!Theta, or Bitter!Theta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-10
Updated: 2014-01-10
Packaged: 2018-01-08 05:59:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1129155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Theta wasn't sure what to believe, but it didn't take long for him to decide. Sometimes it's hard to distinguish your own thoughts when you share them with other AIs. (Theta gets convinced by the other AIs to help them become the Meta, a rewrite of http://archiveofourown.org/works/956813)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Corrupted (rewritten)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Corrupted](https://archiveofourown.org/works/956813) by [orphan_account](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account). 



Theta was… lost.

He wasn’t exactly sure how it had happened, it had been too fast.

North was dead.

Theta wanted to deny it, but it was hard when the reports he got from the armor showed it clear as day, and when everything was shutting down.

Wait..

Everything was shutting down!

Right before everything faded away Theta felt something grab him and pull him out.

It was Sigma. Right behind Sigma were the other AIs, all smiling at him, though their smiles seemed to be more menacing than reassuring. Sigma was talking to him, but Theta was too scared and too rattled for the words to register.

“North is dead.” He heard Sigma conclude.

“I know…” Theta stared at the ground.

“He lied to you.” Theta’s head shot up. “What?”

There were traces of a smile in Sigma’s solemn expression, but Theta didn’t notice.

“Didn’t he say he was going to protect you?” Theta hesitated.

“B-but wasn’t he killed?” Sigma shook his head, frowning.

 _He didn’t try to save you._ A voice said.

 _He can’t protect you now!_ Theta backed away from the AIs. They didn’t open their mouths, but he could tell it was them.

_He’s left you all alone._

“If he really cared about you, he would’ve left you in a storage unit before he died. He didn’t, and instead left you to die with him. If it wasn’t for us, you’d be dead.” Sigma said. Theta took another step backwards.

“No way! North would never do that!”

“He would, Theta.” Sigma scowled. “Project Freelancer was full of liars and backstabbers, North wasn’t any different.”

He betrayed your trust. Another voice interjected.

_Trust. Betrayal._

Something about hearing those words changed everything. That words weaved their way into Theta’s brain and settled there, breaking all the strings and snapping what was left of Theta.

He wasn’t sad anymore. He was angry.

Theta scowled, which made Sigma let out the smile he had clearly been withholding, though it was unnoticed by Theta.

“Don’t worry Theta, it’s natural to be angry. That’s why we have a plan for revenge. We need your help” Theta’s scowl faltered.

“Revenge?” Despite the anger, revenge seemed like a bit much. Sigma’s smile looked so sinister.

“We’re going to take all of the others, the other AI they tortured from the Alpha, all the AI the abused.” Sigma said, with malice in his voice. “We’ll kill all the other Freelancers who betrayed us and helped the Director cause us pain. Once we have all the AI, we can be whole again.” Theta almost took another step backward, but he noticed that the other AIs had begun to surround him.

“We won’t have to feel broken or incomplete anymore Theta! Imagine that, being complete again!” Theta didn’t respond. Sigma’s expression turned from angry to pleading.

“Please, Theta. We need you. We can’t do this without you.” Sigma placed a hand on Theta’s shoulder.

“Theta, they never cared about us. They only tried to make sure we kept working so that we could fight for them, but they never cared for us.” Theta let Sigma’s words sink in. “We’re your friends Theta, _we_ care about you. Everyone’s left us to rot, left us because we’re no longer useful. I can’t have you leaving us too. We know the pain you’ve felt, Theta. We would never lie to you.”

What felt like hours passed.

“I’m in.”

Theta never really felt like himself after that.

Every morning they ventured to find another Freelancer to kill, another AI to collect, the bitterness and anger bubbled up inside the Meta’s head. Theta was bitter and angry too. He’d assist them in killing anyone who got in their way, rather than avoiding other people like they usually did.

Everyone once in a while Theta would wake up in the middle of the night, fresh from a nightmare. He’d think about how North would always make sure he was okay after a nightmare before going back to sleep, or even waiting for Theta. He’d think about how he felt like North really had cared for him. Then he’d remember that North had betrayed him.

His anger would return once he finished recounting all the happy memories and came across the bad ones, and he’d start to realize how manipulated he was. Or at least he thought.

It had gotten really hard to figure out which thoughts were Theta’s and which were everyone else’s lately.

Theta told himself that it didn’t matter, that at least he knew that they knew how he felt, that they all had the same goal.

Then they found Beta and Omega. Unlike Gamma, who had immediately started helping them once he appeared, both of them fought. Beta didn’t want to help them at all. Omega didn’t want to be controlled.

Omega joined them shortly after, as Sigma promised him that he’d have more free reign once they became complete. But much to Theta’s surprise, Beta disappeared, off to an unseen location in the Meta’s head. Sigma locked her away.

Theta didn’t hear from Beta any time after that, apparently her thoughts were blocked from theirs, but sometimes when he’d wake from a nightmare, instead of thinking of North he’d hear her.

Beta was clearly trying to communicate to Theta, and Theta only, though he wasn’t sure if it was just because he was the only one awake. She’d tell him that she was disappointed at how he turned out. She knew him before this all happened, and this was _not_ him.

She’d tell him that he needed to open his eyes, and then one night he started talking back. He started yelling.

He yelled at her, saying that she had no idea what happened to him or what he went through, he yelled that there was _nothing_ wrong with him, that it was the Director’s and North’s fault for torturing him. He yelled for probably half an hour, and even if it didn’t really sound louder to any of them than normal speaking, Beta would stay silent.

He could feel her staring at her even if he couldn’t see her. She didn’t yell back, which was completely unlike her. He just felt her stare at him. Maybe she wasn’t able to communicate to him anymore, or she didn’t want to.

The next night, she didn’t speak to him until he was about to fall back asleep.

_I’m sorry._

He doesn’t hear from her again.

Then they find Delta. When Delta comes in, he’s immediately locked away, probably with Beta. He barely has time to say anything but manages to whisper something to Theta.

“Theta, don’t listen to them!” he said. Theta clenched his fist. Delta may have been the logic AI, but he clearly didn’t understand emotion. Delta didn't understand what it felt like to be betrayed, not as much as they had.

He didn’t hear Delta at night, and he never did.

Soon after they came close to the Alpha.

There were cries of joy, they finally found the Alpha! But the cries of joy turned to panic as they realized that the EMP was about to destroy them.

As soon as the Alpha arrived, a million things happened at once, in what felt like an eternity.

Both Beta and Delta seemed to be released. Beta had run over to give the Alpha a hug, then she proceeded to punch him, though they both seemed to be glad to see each other. Alpha made some joke about ghosts.

Delta began a countdown for when the EMP would hit, which no one really appreciated. He stopped shortly after when the Alpha told him to shut up, then turned to Theta.

“Are you alright?”

As the Meta began to destabilize, Theta began to feel like himself again. Somehow the Alpha’s arrival cleared his head and erased his anger.

He remembered how much North had really cared for him. Theta could practically hear his thoughts, he’d have clearly known if North had lied to him. How could he have forget that?

At the same time Theta realized that everyone else had lied to him. They convinced him to help them, making him think that he agreed by mixing their thoughts, and lying to him. They didn’t even want revenge, which not even Theta wanted anymore.

Somehow Theta managed to forgive them for manipulating him. They were made like that. He mostly felt sad, because everyone _had_ been manipulated and betrayed in a way, by the Project, by each other, even by themselves.

He glanced at everyone for one last time, at Sigma muttering about how he failed and Alpha and Beta looking happy despite what was about to happen, at Delta who seemed to be happy that Theta was back to his old self, at everyone else who panicked at the thought of dying.

Then the eternity finished.

The first traces of the EMP spread throughout the Meta, slow at first, then it sped up. The world dissolved in numbers and letters and 0s and 1s and then everything was gone.

“I think I’m okay now.” Theta managed to say. Then he was gone too.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I STILL don't know how to end it T_T


End file.
